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Help! What are these critters??

PrairieChilihead

PrairieChilihead

Hey! We have two new little interlopers in our yard & garden. We've never seen the like of them before. Can any of you please help us to identify them? Neither seems aggressive or even seems to be doing damage. They both just sit .. and sit .. and sit.

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and


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Should I be worried?
 
Pepper Ridge Farm said:
The second pic is a ladybug larve and are just as good as the ladybug soon to be. The first never seen before. An albino ladybug? haha:P
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NO F*****G Way! Are you serious? I had NO idea that they went through phases and would start out looking like that! So cool! I thought at first that the top bug was a potato bug, but potato bugs have a hard round shell, not at all like this little fellow. Thanks for the interesting news PRF.
 
It looks like it came out of aliens movie..
anyway is it only 2 of them or hundreds of them ??
 
Its cool to watch the larvae munch on aphids. I love them. The other pic is a ladybug pupa. It cool to watch the ladybug form from that.
 
srin2 said:
It looks like it came out of aliens movie..
anyway is it only 2 of them or hundreds of them ??
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We have upwards of a hundred of the long orange ones, but I've only spotted three of the other ones attached to the underside of leaves (2 on pepper plants and one on a grape leaf.) I've just finished building a deck with a gazebo in the backyard and almost immediately the screen of the gazebo was covered with these freaky looking insects. We have never seen them before! They must have been in the grass every other year. But ladybugs! That's a jackpot. I couldn't be happier.

Thanks for setting me straight HotPepper friends...as I knew you would. :)
 
The first two pics is a ladybug in the pupa stage which lasts for about a week. It's between the larva stage and becoming an adult.

The second pics are indeed ladybug larva. You're a lucky guy PC.

Looks like srin2 already took care of it.
 
Yep, you're a lucky man. Great pics too. There might be some clusters of elongated yellowish eggs under the leaves too. Leave them be. :)

Now you need to buy some aphids to feed them all. ;)
 
Thanks everyone for all the great comments. In my wildest imaginings I never dreamed that these peculiar (and fightening) looking ma-bobs would turn into our very best friends and allies in our battle against evil insects. I do feel lucky. I should buy a lottery ticket!!
 
While I have it in my mind, I have another question for you experts: I have ants (both black & red) crawling throughout my pepper garden. I have several anthills in my yard, which I don't really mind...I respect the hard working, socially developed little guys. For the most part they don't encroach much on our living space, but I'm wondering if I should do something to discourage their crawling on the plants. Would you?

Thanks again.
 
PrairieChilihead said:
I have several anthills in my yard, which I don't really mind...I respect the hard working, socially developed little guys. For the most part they don't encroach much on our living space, but I'm wondering if I should do something to discourage their crawling on the plants. Would you?
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I'd dust some DE (Diatomaceous Earth) around the base of the plants or crumble some dried bread into fine particles, spray them lightly with Spinosad and sprinkle the deadly bread bait for the ants to find.
 
caroltlw said:
Won't the DE hurt the ladybugs too? Or if it's just one plant it might not do much damage to the beneficials?
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The ladies are airborne paratroopers so I don't think putting some DE at the plants base will bother them; it hasn't phased mine but it sure puts a hitch in an ants get-a-long. :)

For my containers I just move the pot, sprinkle some on the ground or sidewalk, then move the pot back on top of it. For the garden I just dust the ground around the plants, especially the okra as the red devils really like the stuff.
 
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